I’m often asked to help people connect with their guides, with departed loved ones, with their own intuition. I field questions about sacred rituals and which crystals to work with and what a particular symbol means. I’ve watched with a mixture of gratitude and concern as tarot, yoga, meditation, and reiki have become mainstream. Mystical is trendy, spiritual “gangstas” are “namastayin” and “namascrayin” #everydamnday.
The exposure these beautiful, sacred tools and practices have received is amazing.
And still, people are starving. And disconnected. And not hearing the quiet voice within. The voice that says, “Stop. Breathe. Listen.”
Listening.
It is a skill most of us need to improve upon. And, unfortunately, it’s not one that can be bought. It can’t be honed over a one-week retreat in Costa Rica or Bali. It won’t come from a crystal grid or a reiki session or a full moon ceremony.
It comes from discipline. From practice. From years of work.
This is why I won’t teach a workshop or class on “How to Connect with Your Guides” – because that connection will come naturally, when you are ready. When your listening has deepened. When you have made the time and space, when you have done the work necessary to de-clutter and re-wire and slow down.
I often tell my meditation students that you can’t expect to drop into a space of stillness and calm easily without lots of training, just like I can’t expect to roll out of bed and run a marathon without conditioning my body, preparing myself mentally, training day after day to run a significant distance. I simply couldn’t do it. And your mind can’t give you the quiet and space needed to truly hear your intuition, your guides, etc. without similar conditioning.
I’m not an expert in all things magical or multidimensional. Far from it. I am constantly learning. What I do have, and what I consider to be the foundation of any spiritual or magical practice, is the ability to listen, to discern what I’m hearing and sensing, and to trust myself and this connection.
Laying this foundation took YEARS, and requires continual maintenance. I started meditating when I was 12. I got my first tarot deck at 15. I got attuned to reiki when I was 19. For nearly 2/3 of my life, I have been consciously, consistently conditioning my mind to listen, to quiet down, to relax and receive. I’ve been fine-tuning my intuition, learning what different frequencies of energy feel like, moving between brain wave states whilst fully awake.
I’m not special or super human or a bizarre freak of nature. I’m not especially gifted. I’ve worked at this. So yes, I can feel your deceased grandmother and let you know she’s glad you have her ring and she loved the smell of gardenias. And I can easily access my team of guides and even channel messages from ancient Oyo kings with specific instructions in how to bless your baby on his first birthday (yeah, it surprises me, too! On the regular. This work is never boring). I can set up an altar and instinctively place stones, feathers, wine, or milk. My magic doesn’t come from books. It’s not bought on Etsy. It comes from listening. From allowing what I need to show up. From trusting that the space between breaths is full of limitless potential, and as the creator of my reality, I can direct that potential into each and every breath, and it is my responsibility to do so. In every moment.
Can you take 5 minutes a day where you ONLY focus on your breath? Slow it down. Deepen it. Keep bringing your mind back to your breath. “I am breathing in.” “I am breathing out.” And can you do that EVERY day?
That’s where the magic starts. That’s where your ability to connect with your guides starts. That’s how you build the foundation.
Breathe. Listen. That’s really, truly how to connect with your guides in one easy step. You just have to apply that step daily. For month after month, year after year.
The guidance will come. And it will come from within. It will resound through your being with such clarity and truth that you will just know. I can’t give you this connection. I can’t hand you your intuition in a workshop. There are no shortcuts. You have to learn to listen. And you learn by doing. Get quiet. Breathe. Listen. Build your foundation, and you WILL connect with your guides, with your deepest knowing.
“If you build it, they will come.”
They will. And then the real fun starts!